Now, more then ever, long-time smokers are trying to quit this insidious tobacco habit. Of course, health considerations are not the only motivation. The price of cigarettes is crazy. So, those who actually do quit are headed down the road to a healthier life with more money in their pocket. Granted, quitting smoking is difficult, but I’m convinced that we’re approaching the problem from the wrong angle. When I say we, I’m referring to those who continue to blame nicotine for the smokers difficulty in shedding the habit. Nicotine may be somewhat addictive, however from personal experience, I know that most of the addiction is psychological. It’s a habit, for Christ’s sake! With almost all habits, the action is triggered by another event. Every smoker or ex-smoker will verify this. For instance: When having a cup of coffee; when having a beer (the worst); answering a telephone call; driving the car or getting up in the morning. You get the idea. Smokers can probably add hundreds of examples to the ones noted here. On the other hand, smokers can easily go without nicotine for the 8 or so hours that they spend sleeping every night without the tremendous pangs usually associated with wanting a smoke. Other telling evidence that backs up my claim is the proliferation of products that introduce nicotine into the body in ways other than smoking. They don’t work. Smokers almost always go back to the real thing; smoking. They miss the oral contact, the interaction with the smoke, and the obvious pleasure of inhaling and exhaling the smoke. I know! I was there for many years. And I, like everyone who tries to quit, tried all the little gimmicks and tricks to cut down gradually to lessen the pain. We all do it. Laying out just a few cigarettes, like five or so, as a limit to our daily smoking. Ha! That’s the biggest joke. We smoke them up in the first two hours, then feel stranded until the next morning, when we’re going to lay out five more smokes. Or we buy some sweet tasting cigars, usually a pack of five, with the idea that they will fill the void, but we won’t like them enough to keep smoking them. And we’re right, we don’t like them so we promptly go back to cigarettes. The only way to effectively quit using cigarettes is to recognize that this is a habit, not an addiction, and to quit cold! All the crutches only serve to constantly remind us that we’re trying to do something that we can’t possibly do without the crutches. The same crutches that almost always lead us back to smoking full time, because they keep reminding us that we can’t quit.
Instead of wasting your time and money on phony cures and fixes like nicotine gum, patches and pseudo cigarettes (another devise that actually reinforces my claim that the appeal of cigarettes is the oral interaction) and just quit! If you need some counseling to get over the hump, get it! Over the rest of your life, you’ll be repaid the cost of that counseling many times over. I’m not going to get into the other negative aspects of cigarette use, like the burn marks all over your furniture, the stench in your home, your car, your office and your clothing. If a guy smells like a stale old ashtray, it’s bad. If a great looking young woman smell that way, it’s a real put-off.
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Tags: cigarettes, habits, health, smoking
This entry was posted on May 10, 2009 at 10:05 pm and is filed under Commentary, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Nicotine addiction? I don’t think so!
Now, more then ever, long-time smokers are trying to quit this insidious tobacco habit. Of course, health considerations are not the only motivation. The price of cigarettes is crazy. So, those who actually do quit are headed down the road to a healthier life with more money in their pocket. Granted, quitting smoking is difficult, but I’m convinced that we’re approaching the problem from the wrong angle. When I say we, I’m referring to those who continue to blame nicotine for the smokers difficulty in shedding the habit. Nicotine may be somewhat addictive, however from personal experience, I know that most of the addiction is psychological. It’s a habit, for Christ’s sake! With almost all habits, the action is triggered by another event. Every smoker or ex-smoker will verify this. For instance: When having a cup of coffee; when having a beer (the worst); answering a telephone call; driving the car or getting up in the morning. You get the idea. Smokers can probably add hundreds of examples to the ones noted here. On the other hand, smokers can easily go without nicotine for the 8 or so hours that they spend sleeping every night without the tremendous pangs usually associated with wanting a smoke. Other telling evidence that backs up my claim is the proliferation of products that introduce nicotine into the body in ways other than smoking. They don’t work. Smokers almost always go back to the real thing; smoking. They miss the oral contact, the interaction with the smoke, and the obvious pleasure of inhaling and exhaling the smoke. I know! I was there for many years. And I, like everyone who tries to quit, tried all the little gimmicks and tricks to cut down gradually to lessen the pain. We all do it. Laying out just a few cigarettes, like five or so, as a limit to our daily smoking. Ha! That’s the biggest joke. We smoke them up in the first two hours, then feel stranded until the next morning, when we’re going to lay out five more smokes. Or we buy some sweet tasting cigars, usually a pack of five, with the idea that they will fill the void, but we won’t like them enough to keep smoking them. And we’re right, we don’t like them so we promptly go back to cigarettes. The only way to effectively quit using cigarettes is to recognize that this is a habit, not an addiction, and to quit cold! All the crutches only serve to constantly remind us that we’re trying to do something that we can’t possibly do without the crutches. The same crutches that almost always lead us back to smoking full time, because they keep reminding us that we can’t quit.
Instead of wasting your time and money on phony cures and fixes like nicotine gum, patches and pseudo cigarettes (another devise that actually reinforces my claim that the appeal of cigarettes is the oral interaction) and just quit! If you need some counseling to get over the hump, get it! Over the rest of your life, you’ll be repaid the cost of that counseling many times over. I’m not going to get into the other negative aspects of cigarette use, like the burn marks all over your furniture, the stench in your home, your car, your office and your clothing. If a guy smells like a stale old ashtray, it’s bad. If a great looking young woman smell that way, it’s a real put-off.
Like this:
Tags: cigarettes, habits, health, smoking
This entry was posted on May 10, 2009 at 10:05 pm and is filed under Commentary, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.